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The Helmet, Butters and Stuff

Well the dusting of snow was all it was. The past two days (Thursday and Friday) have been spent with Tobin going over the curriculum for the CSIA Level 2 course and exam. It’s fairly straight forward but I don’t feel like my skill level is quite where I want it to be. I’ve only just started to feel what is wrong with my technique in the past few days and there really is time to modify it with any great success. But who knows, it could change overnight. From what I gather from the rest of the boys the feel is mutual. In my last blog I went through the steps to good lesson, from my point of view and for the most part I feel that’s the approach that the CSIA are looking for. The key is to keep it simple and identify the root cause of poor technique and build from there, making it manageable for different learning types and different levels of skill. In the end it is about making the lesson as fun as possible and having the client leave with a sense of achievement through progression.

Part of the Section 8 experience is the ‘Helmet’. The Helmet is awarded to someone every week for failures or deeds performed beyond the norm. Most often it’s given to people for some hilariously ridiculous habits that they have or for a spectacularly funny situation that happens while we are out on the snow. There are caution tape tassels attached like pig tail ribbons for those people who wasted at least an hour of our powder riding time looking for lost skis. Not cool. A computer mouse, for a certain individual who spends the majority of his free time playing computer games, clicking furiously at the screen. Sometimes it’s the only noise you hear in the house, click click click click….. click. You get the idea. There is now a cluster of junk taped to it. So 11 weeks in to the course and it has now been passed on to me for continuous habit of mine. I tend to flap my feet around in the air when I’m unbalanced in a jump. I have apparently perfected my own move called ‘the running man’. To be fair I can actually land it. It is pretty old school, I think Wayne Wong would be proud. Regardless, the lads find it extremely comical. So the torch, as it were, has been passed to me. A pair of little wire legs are mounted on top amongst the clutter of crap. Its seriously uncomfortable and a bit of a distraction but the rules clearly state that the helmet must be worn. I have one more day of wearing it and that just so happens to be the first day of the CSIA course.

This weekend has been quite eventful. Last night (Friday) the Rocky Mountain Rebel Music group played at the Waverley. They are a scar/dub/reggae band with about 9 members on stage. Very cool, very talented and they are playing again in Victoria on April 10th with New Zealand’s own, The Black Seeds. I’m definitely going to have to make the trip down for that. Today was the Redbull Buttercup. A bunch of boxes and rails were set up so snowboards could do their best butter tricks. For those who don’t know what a butter is imagine a snowboard buttering a piece of toast then replace the toast with snow and boxes and rails. Get it? So tonight there is another party going on up the mountain. Goodtimes!